Stable Mistress, Deen City Farm – Jon Gee, 2007

This is a personal photo of Jo Henbrey, Chief Instructor and Stable Mistress of Deen City Farm, South London. I conceived this shot during a conversation in a burlesque club. She told me what she did for a living and where she worked and I imagined capturing her glamour with the reality of her workplace.

When I arrived at the farm I was delighted to see some suitably placed chimneys on the skyline kicking out fumes! I had asked Jo if I could shoot her on a white horse wearing cream retro-finery. She turned up with a few items and I put this outfit together. Before we’d even started, my assistant, who had the fantastic job of moving the flash units if the horse reared, got mugged for a pushbike on the street outside the shoot. I figured she was better off keeping warm and drinking tea with the stable hands and I made do myself.

Jo had to persuade the young horse ‘Sinatra’ to approach me standing in the middle of a field with 2 flash umbrellas popping away. It’s a bit nerve racking popping flash straight into a jumpy horse’s eyes but both Jo and Sinatra were great – and very patient as we waited for the sky to darken.

Jon has been a trapeze artist in the circus, rigger in the entertainment industry, company director and sports massage therapist.

He first picked up an SLR in August 2006, not originally intending to shoot professionally. The camera felt completely natural in his hands, and he was shocked to find himself falling in love with an inanimate object. Within 3 months he was offered his first major commission and over the last 12 months his business has continued to expand rapidly.

Jon thrives on diversity and his recent clients include film and tv actors, large-scale event production companies, an upmarket gentlemen’s club, a famous academic institution and lifestyle magazines.

EPUK is an email group for professional editorial photographers who want to talk business. We don’t do techie stuff or in-crowd gossip. We don’t talk cameras or computers. What we talk about are the nuts and bolts of being in business - like copyright, licensing, fees and insurance.